


Lighthouse

by econator



Series: Sweet Macaron [4]
Category: Political RPF - Canadian 21st c., Political RPF - France 21st c.
Genre: ANZAC biscuits, Alcohol, Justin's pov, Lighthouses, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 11:36:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20674751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/econator/pseuds/econator
Summary: As the sun sets on the G7 Summit, Justin takes Manu and a pilfered bottle up to the lighthouse. He ends up with more conversation than he'd hoped for.





	Lighthouse

**Author's Note:**

> The lighthouse was a feature of the Biarritz coverage. Manu seemed to set everything up to maximise views of it, which made it feel like he was trying to do more than just have an aesthetic backdrop.

Justin swigged the wine straight out the bottle and handed it to Manu. He wiped a few drops of the wooded chenin off his lips as he looked out over the dark sea, lit only by the almost-waned crescent moon and the sweeping beam of the lighthouse they were leaning against. He played with the rip on the knee of Manu's jeans, feeling like his staid Frenchie was finally lightening up in embracing disguises for incognito walks.

'You did a really good job with the summit,' he said, running his fingertip through the sparse hair on Manu's knee.

'Thanks.' Manu intertwined their fingers. 'You did a really good job running interference with Melania.' He squeezed Justin's hand. 'Well done for recruiting her when you were in Washington to keep a lid on the Iran situation. That was a good idea you had.'

Justin nudged the hoodie out the way with his nose, and kissed Manu's cheek.

'Anything for you, bookish wunderkind.'

Manu turned and pressed their lips together for a moment. He tasted of wine and cigarettes, their baguettes long since washed down with the contents of the bottle Justin had pilfered from the event hall the night before, and a crumpled box of smokes Manu had allegedly found in the cupboard of his hotel room. He stroked Justin's cheek tenderly before he sat back against the stone base of the lighthouse.

'Why didn't you invite Jacinta?' Justin said. 'I could punish a plate of her ANZAC biscuits right now.'

'You're just a hungry drunk. A kebab would satisfy you right now.'

'Mmm. Yeah. A kebab would be good.' Justin nudged Manu's thigh. 'Why didn't you invite Jacinta? We spent a whole session of this summit on women, and only one female premier was at the conference.' He interlinked their fingers. 'You need to invite more than one woman to count towards your diversity street cred.'

'A female premier who's at her last G7, who's been discussed in the press as being less hot than Jacinta.' Manu squeezed his hand. 'She had hurt feelings about the comments.'

'Ah, I see. Managing egos.'

'Yes. I was doing for Angela like I did for Don.' Manu squeezed Justin's thigh. 'And here we are. Everyone's gone home, and it's just us in jeans and hoodies, drinking expensive wine right out of the bottle at the lighthouse.' He handed the bottle back to Justin. 'Like we're teenagers again. Nice bottle though. I think that's the brand I chose for the summit.'

'Yeah, it's the wine you chose for the summit. I liked the bouquet.' Justin took a swig, swallowing it loudly. 'Did you choose it for a reason?'

'Of course. It's grown close to here by a French-Galician family. I wanted this summit to benefit the people who live here.' Manu interlinked their fingers as he leaned against Justin's shoulder. 'I also chose this town for a reason.'

'Starting to give Galicians more bureaucratic and infrastructural independence?' Justin leaned the bottle against the base of the lighthouse and stroked Manu's cheek with his newly freed hand. 'I like your idea of giving everyone photovoltaic panels as step one towards their autonomy. It's very green and “power to the people.”'

'No. Well, yes, that also. But no, I chose this town, this place.' Manu pulled up a few blades of grass, throwing them off to the side. 'This lighthouse.'

Justin chuckled, feeling overwhelming warmth for Manu. 'Is it a metaphor for how to avoid crashing the ship of democracy into the rocks?'

'Yeah.' He squeezed Justin's hand. 'And a metaphor for how to find our way into a safe harbour.'

'Aim five degrees to the right of the light to hit the beach?'

'In the dark and stormy ocean, full of submerged rocks and other things that can ground our ship, using the light to navigate. I found it a helpful metaphor when I was trying to survive the heat of the _Gilets Jaunes_ protests.'

'You're hoping my southern neighbours will take the hint?'

'And you.'

Justin sighed. 'Is this about the pipeline thing, or the corruption scandal?'

'Both? You have enough land and budget to grow hemp for plastic and paper production, so there's no need to destroy the forests and extract the tar sands. You're liberalism's golden boy. Why did you let them get away with it?'

Justin shifted against Manu's body. 'I couldn't help thinking about that guy they got to speak at the convention. Good Canadians, providing for their families.'

'That makes no sense. You know you can create similar jobs in green sectors, and transition those workers without much effort and expense. What's the real reason?'

Justin kissed the top of Manu's head. 'Did you bring me here to try guide me back into the harbour?'

Manu exhaled loudly. He made a grabby gesture with his free hand.

'The wine?'

'You need Dutch courage to say it?'

'Yes. You mean a lot to me, and I need to say this. Bottle please.' Justin handed him the wine and waited for him to take a long draught. Manu wiped his mouth on the back of his wrist, and gave the bottle back. 'As I was saying, you ran on green promises. We formed our alliance, our beautiful relationship, based on those shared values. We worked together for that common goal. Why did you turn on me? On us? Why, when we're both fighting an uphill battle trying to unite our countries on values, rather than ideology?'

Justin's guts twisted. He squeezed Manu's hand as he took a deep breath. He exhaled, swigged the wine, and put the bottle down beside him. 'You remember when I took you around the library when you came to visit?'

'Yeah. Gave me a tour of the stacks, like we were students again.'

'Yeah, well, apparently someone followed us with a camera. Used the tape to blackmail me.'

Manu sat up and stared at Justin in the almost complete darkness. 'But we were so careful? We had security cover the entrance to the library. We found a place with no CCTV. It should have been just us.'

'Look, I don't know how they got the footage. I haven't been able to find the snitch. I just know that we could both kiss our careers goodbye if they put it up on the celebrity section of PornHub. A video of us kissing, jerking each other off, saying each others' names as we come, both of our faces visible to the camera in some parts. It's not a good look for world leaders with wives.'

Manu stared out across the Atlantic's dark waves. He made a grabby hand in the direction of the bottle, which Justin passed to him. He had a few gulps.

'No, it's not a good look,' he said at last. 'The tape is destroyed?'

'It was digital. There's no knowing how many copies exist.'

'So it could come back on us later?'

'If I do anything to jeopardise the interests of a particular group of companies, or any of their shareholders, it will come back on us.'

'So you bullied your Attorney General, and pushed through plans for a new pipeline.'

'Pretty much.'

Manu exhaled loudly. He had another swig of wine out the bottle before handing it back to Justin.

'The one who finishes the bottle is the next to get married.'

'We're both already married.'

'Maybe not for long, if we have a library hand job tape coming out.'

'Brigitte will stay with you. I mean, she must know about you by now.'

'Sophie can handle a sex tape on top of a corruption scandal?' Manu nudged the bottle towards Justin's lips. 'Just do it. I can't take any more bad luck right now.'

Justin downed the dregs of the wine.

'Done. What's next?'

'We go back to the hotel, and send an aide to get us kebabs.' Manu stood up and extended his hand to Justin, helping him to his feet. 'We probably shouldn't do anything more in public.'

'Yeah.' Justin put his arm around Manu's shoulders. 'Probably best not.'

'Tips from a sailor: when you find a hole in the boat, don't shoot it.'

'Yeah. Just to be clear, I don't regret our date in the library,' Manu said, wrapping his arm around Justin's waist.

'Neither do I. I just wish I'd put laser tripwire alarms around the library basement before we went there. We could've had our date without the photographers.'

'Were you planning it like that?'

'No, I just couldn't keep my hands off you.' He squeezed Manu's shoulders. 'Seeing you with all that great, soft light, looking all happy about being surrounded by all that old book smell. I just couldn't not.'

Manu was silent for long enough that Justin felt like he'd overstepped.

'I've always thought that, if Heaven existed, it would be a well-stocked library. Warm, quiet, smelling of peace.'

'Oh, Heaven definitely exists,' Justin said reflexively before he felt Manu tense under his touch. 'But you're right, it's probably a library.' They strolled down the gently sloping road in the sort of silence that provided a stark contrast to Justin's mind. 'Would it give you comfort to think of God as a librarian?'

'God would be a good librarian. An omniscient being would be able to accurately tell readers when books were due to be returned.'

Justin kissed Manu's temple.

'Nerd,' he whispered tenderly.

Manu squeezed his waist.

'When all this is over, let's make a library together. When all we have left is each other, let's make a library.'

'We can plant trees outside, and I promise I won't pour herbicide on them when we have a fight about Iran.'

'Hopefully we'll be fighting about translations of books from ancient Persia, not modern Iran.'

Justin stopped and pulled Manu close. He kissed him there, in the middle of the street, not caring if anyone recognised them in the darkness. He pressed their foreheads together.

'I'd like that safe harbour very much.'

**Author's Note:**

> All comments and kudos are welcomed and cherished.


End file.
